Page 1 of 2 [ 27 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next

C2V
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 7 Apr 2015
Posts: 2,666

09 Nov 2016, 8:51 pm

Here's me showing myself up as a bit dim when it comes to politics.
I don't watch TV, so had to hear it from someone else who forcibly told me, about the American election outcome.
No offence meant to American WP people - but I don't care.
One of the reasons I haven't been watching any TV especially recently is because it is all over every channel.
Everyone is talking about it.
But why should the rest of the world care this much who America elects for the next four years? Why aren't we bombarded with who the Koreans elect, or the Germans, or the New Zealanders?
I have even stopped reading in this forum, because there has been so little else in here but American politics.
I don't live in America. Most of the world doesn't live in America. Why is it the American election, and ordinarily American film stars, are so dominant in the concerns of other countries? Often above their own concerns?
I understand enough about two things I'm not interested in - politics and commerce - to understand that America has an influence in these areas. But hell, so does China, and yet the news waves are not constantly drowned with news about every facet of their country.
For some reason it irks me. In a discussion last night, people were talking about the outcome of this election as if they would be personally affected by it. Which is not possible, here in the far-flung edges of the world. They had very strong reactions to it, as if it had been a local disaster. I just don't get it.
I have been in hairier places where people would not even know who the American President was, or care about anything to do with it - they're focused on staying alive. Why should the rest of the world be so preoccupied with the affairs of one country? People are also responding as if this man has sole control over everything that happens there, which is obviously not the case.
I suppose I'm bored of all the fuss about it, and wonder why this is so prevalent. It contributes, perhaps, that I tend to frequent places where the inhabitants don't care about their own politics, let alone anyone else's.
Why the fuss?


_________________
Alexithymia - 147 points.
Low-Verbal.


AJisHere
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 29 Oct 2015
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,135
Location: Washington state

09 Nov 2016, 10:35 pm

Donald Trump is going to have 1800 nuclear weapons ready to be deployed at a moment's notice. You tell me why you shouldn't care about that, because wherever you are sounds like a great place.


_________________
Yes, I have autism. No, it isn't "part of me". Yes, I hate my autism. No, I don't hate myself.


Darmok
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 18 Dec 2015
Gender: Male
Posts: 12,030
Location: New England

09 Nov 2016, 10:53 pm

^^ Your attitude is a healthy one.

The only reason you might want to care is to learn from this election how easy is it for cognitive psychologists running deliberate psyops (Hillary's Cialdini, e.g.), coupled with domestic terrorists on the payroll of a national political party (Hillary's Robert Creamer), to manipulate a large part of the population of a country into hysterical mania, as has been evident repeatedly on this website, and as we can see tonight on the streets of a number of US cities.

This is important because those techniques of manipulation and subversion can be used in your country against you, too, wherever you are.

An old classic, still important:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordi ... _of_Crowds


_________________
 
There Are Four Lights!


LoveNotHate
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 12 Oct 2013
Gender: Female
Posts: 6,195
Location: USA

09 Nov 2016, 10:58 pm

Trump has proposed:

-re-negotiating NAFTA (as well as all international trade agreements)
-curtailing payments to the United Nations
-greatly curtailing foreign aid
-the US will withdraw from "climate change" commitments (e.g., the "Paris agreement")
-a 35% import tariff on Mexico
-a 45% import tariff on China
-illegal aliens will be rounded up and sent back to their home country
-the US debt will be negotiated for better terms

These are HUGE changes!



AJisHere
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 29 Oct 2015
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,135
Location: Washington state

09 Nov 2016, 11:06 pm

LoveNotHate wrote:
-a 35% import tariff on Mexico
-a 45% import tariff on China
-the US debt will be negotiated for better terms


Worth nothing that actually doing this would send the global economy into a tailspin.


_________________
Yes, I have autism. No, it isn't "part of me". Yes, I hate my autism. No, I don't hate myself.


anagram
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 4 Nov 2012
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,433
Location: 4 Nov 2012

10 Nov 2016, 12:20 am

i like to think and learn about politics, in terms of "history unfolding itself". but apart from that, i just hope the internet can be back to good old porn and cat memes now that the american election is over. though i guess it's naive of me to expect it. i guess it's what i get for using english as my lingua franca. at least it's another excuse to learn spanish


_________________
404


BTDT
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 26 Jul 2010
Age: 60
Gender: Female
Posts: 7,123

10 Nov 2016, 12:34 am

I'm thinking of getting a new TV before the prices go up.



C2V
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 7 Apr 2015
Posts: 2,666

10 Nov 2016, 2:25 am

Quote:
Trump has proposed:

-re-negotiating NAFTA (as well as all international trade agreements)
-curtailing payments to the United Nations
-greatly curtailing foreign aid
-the US will withdraw from "climate change" commitments (e.g., the "Paris agreement")
-a 35% import tariff on Mexico
-a 45% import tariff on China
-illegal aliens will be rounded up and sent back to their home country
-the US debt will be negotiated for better terms

These are HUGE changes!

Not necessarily. I've been places that have been savagely curtailing foreign aid for years, have been violating United Nations sanctions, imposing taxes no one voted for or agreed to, imposing trade restrictions, arresting ànd detaining without charge, countries that have locked asylum seekers fleeing war in Syria in jail / detention centres, or just refused them access and left them to drown at sea. It's nothing new.
I can almost guarantee no one hears about it outside that country. I'm even more suspect that the American media never even reported on it, and it didn't get a minute of air time in America.
It's the overwhelming American-centric issue that annoys me. America is one nation, and yes their leadership has some impacts in some areas. It doesn't explain why everyone is talking about it as if it is not only the only news happening on the planet, but that it is directly their concern.
Also, he has proposed these things. Does not mean it will come to pass.
Quote:
Donald Trump is going to have 1800 nuclear weapons ready to be deployed at a moment's notice. You tell me why you shouldn't care about that, because wherever you are sounds like a great place.

You really believe he can just deploy them whenever he wants, at whoever he wants, for whatever reason he wants? It doesn't work that way. Many nations have nuclear weapons. We don't have to hear all about their leadership structure at the expense of everything else.


_________________
Alexithymia - 147 points.
Low-Verbal.


The_Face_of_Boo
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 16 Jun 2010
Age: 41
Gender: Non-binary
Posts: 32,886
Location: Beirut, Lebanon.

10 Nov 2016, 2:45 am

All roads lead to Rome.



AJisHere
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 29 Oct 2015
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,135
Location: Washington state

10 Nov 2016, 4:13 am

Alright, let me give you a reality check; people who have been responsible for nukes in the past are scared s**tless of Donald Trump having control over them. There is not a lot standing between the order being given and it being carried out. By design the decision process is a few minutes with no real back and forth. The most likely scenario if this pompous, narcissistic, childish buffoon decides to nuke someone for s**ts and giggles (something he has expressed a willingness to do that is historically unprededented) is the military straight-up refusing, and even that's not a positive thing.

"It's ok" you say "It doesn't affect my country!" Sorry to burst your bubble, but what the US does affects everybody. It's the biggest kid on the playground and considers everything its business. There are American military personnel in over 70 countries, ready to enforce its will. It is a hegemonic global empire that is unafraid to use force to get what it wants. America is a bully, and it's just been emboldened to engage in that behavior some more.

That same hegemony extends to the economy. The world economy is for all intents and purposes centered on the US. When the economy went in the toilet here in 2008, it did so around the world as a result. That was a bubble popping. It's to be expected when the Republicans are in power. Something like that is the bare minimum to expect; whatever country you're in is likely in for rough times. Hopefully, not as bad as Trump would like it; his proposals if carried out would likely lead to a worldwide economic collapse. You would not escape it.

"But he can't do that!" you may say. I'm guessing wherever you live has a parliamentary system? We do things differently here. The only thing keeping him in check are two branches of government that Trump's party also controls. He is going to decide the composition of the Supreme Court, and the GOP has shown they are too craven to stand up to him; they may rein him in a little bit, but given their behavior over the last 25 years they are morally bankrupt and will march in lockstep right over a cliff rather than let anyone else get their way. Expecting them to save you is akin to paying protection money to mob.

So if you're annoyed? Stop. You shouldn't be annoyed. You should be terrified.


_________________
Yes, I have autism. No, it isn't "part of me". Yes, I hate my autism. No, I don't hate myself.


TheSpectrum
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 14 Jun 2014
Age: 39
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,121
Location: Hampshire

10 Nov 2016, 5:06 am

Darmok wrote:
^^ Your attitude is a healthy one.

The only reason you might want to care is to learn from this election how easy is it for cognitive psychologists running deliberate psyops (Hillary's Cialdini, e.g.), coupled with domestic terrorists on the payroll of a national political party (Hillary's Robert Creamer), to manipulate a large part of the population of a country into hysterical mania, as has been evident repeatedly on this website, and as we can see tonight on the streets of a number of US cities.

This is important because those techniques of manipulation and subversion can be used in your country against you, too, wherever you are.

An old classic, still important:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordi ... _of_Crowds

I feel sorry for the vulnerable members of this site who have been manipulated into this sort of mass hysteria, and I'm glad someone else pointed out Bob Creamer, Soros et. al's involvement with the destruction of civility.


_________________
Yours sincerely, some dude.


Biscuitman
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 11 Mar 2013
Age: 44
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,665
Location: Dunking jammy dodgers

10 Nov 2016, 5:14 am

From over here in Europe, I care about the effect on climate change this could have and his approach to NATO if Russia goes full Russia and starts meddling in the Baltics but other than that, meh. We have our own s**t to get in order.



auntblabby
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 12 Feb 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 113,725
Location: the island of defective toy santas

10 Nov 2016, 6:23 am

anagram wrote:
i like to think and learn about politics, in terms of "history unfolding itself". but apart from that, i just hope the internet can be back to good old porn and cat memes now that the american election is over. though i guess it's naive of me to expect it. i guess it's what i get for using english as my lingua franca. at least it's another excuse to learn spanish

I want at least half of what you want ;) and you are a lot closer to learning Spanish than I am. :star:



androbot01
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 17 Sep 2014
Age: 53
Gender: Female
Posts: 6,746
Location: Kingston, Ontario, Canada

10 Nov 2016, 8:18 am

C2V wrote:
Quote:
Donald Trump is going to have 1800 nuclear weapons ready to be deployed at a moment's notice. You tell me why you shouldn't care about that, because wherever you are sounds like a great place.

You really believe he can just deploy them whenever he wants, at whoever he wants, for whatever reason he wants? It doesn't work that way. Many nations have nuclear weapons. We don't have to hear all about their leadership structure at the expense of everything else.

I think you are being naive here C2V. The American President has discretion as to when to deploy nuclear weapons.

I agree that there is a seriously increased risk of a nuclear confrontation which would certainly effect Canada.

Plus it's like a global car accident. It's awful but you can't look away.



SocOfAutism
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 2 Mar 2015
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,848

11 Nov 2016, 10:02 am

Funny that people are just now remembering that the US has nukes. Yes, lots of countries have nukes, and it's disturbing. Maybe people should pay more attention to who is friends with who and why.

I don't think it's a good thing to have the media saturated with US affairs. It feeds into the global narrative, keeps people from having national identities. Ever hear of cultural hegemony?



anagram
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 4 Nov 2012
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,433
Location: 4 Nov 2012

11 Nov 2016, 10:58 am

SocOfAutism wrote:
I don't think it's a good thing to have the media saturated with US affairs. It feeds into the global narrative, keeps people from having national identities. Ever hear of cultural hegemony?

amen to that. and it's why the phenomenon of illegal immigration exists in the first place. the u.s. must learn how to not be an empire if it wants to be a proper country going forward. and the rest of the world should also realize the same

not that i actually care about national identity per se, and to a large extent i actually dislike the concept. but basing someone's identity on what they're not is a bad thing, and it's the main effect of that saturation


_________________
404